Mitigating Functional Impediments to Accessing Public Transportation for Older Adults

As individuals age, they often experience changes in physical, sensory, and cognitive functioning that can affect their ability to access and use public transit safely, independently, and confidently. While some older adults reduce their trip-making or rely on family members and caregivers for transportation, many continue to use demand-responsive transportation (DRT) and/or complementary Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit services to maintain mobility and independence. Transit accessibility efforts have focused primarily on compliance with ADA. Although ADA requirements remain fundamental, older adults may experience a broader range of age-related functional impediments that are not addressed through traditional accessibility approaches. These impediments may include anxiety, balance limitations, cognitive changes, fatigue, hearing loss, reduced vision, muscle weakness, pain, and diminished dexterity. These functional impediments can affect how older adults navigate transit facilities, access information, board and alight vehicles, interact with technology, and complete trips. Research is needed to support public transportation agencies in understanding these barriers. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this research is to develop an accessibility assessment framework that public transportation agencies can use to identify, prioritize, and mitigate barriers associated with age-related functional impediments affecting older adults’ use of public transportation systems and services. RESEARCH PLAN: The TCRP is seeking proposals on how best to achieve the research objective. Proposers are expected to describe research plans that can realistically be accomplished within the constraints of available funds and subaward time. Proposals must present the proposers' current thinking in sufficient detail to demonstrate their understanding of the issues and the soundness of their approach to meeting the research objective. The research, at a minimum, shall: (1) Conduct a review of research, policies, standards, and current practices related to transit accessibility, universal design, customer engagement, and transportation systems access for older adults experiencing functional impediments. (2) Engage stakeholders representing public transportation providers, older adults, accessibility practitioners, and subject matter experts. (3) Conduct surveys of older adults, transit agencies, and subject matter experts including architects, industrial and rehabilitation engineers, occupational therapists, and accessibility specialists to identify barriers, needs, challenges, and promising practices. (4) Identify, assess, and develop mitigation strategies, practices, technologies, designs, operational approaches, and customer service interventions that can mitigate functional impediments and improve accessibility for older adults. (5) Evaluate the effectiveness, feasibility, implementation considerations, costs, benefits, and potential challenges associated with each strategy. (6) Develop an accessibility assessment framework that enables public transportation agencies to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and address barriers affecting older adults with age-related functional impediments. The framework should be applicable to transit facilities, stops and stations, vehicles, passenger information systems, digital technologies, fare payment systems, and transportation services, including fixed-route, demand-responsive, and complementary paratransit services. The resulting framework should be designed to support public transportation agencies in assessing existing facilities, vehicles, technologies, and services, as well as informing future infrastructure investments, facility renovations, vehicle procurements, rehabilitation projects, technology deployments, and service planning decisions. The research plan will describe appropriate deliverables that include the following (which also represent key project milestones). (1) An amplified research plan that responds to comments provided by the project panel at the subawardee selection meeting. (2) An interim report and panel meeting. The interim report should include the analyses and results of completed tasks, a plan for the remaining tasks, and a detailed outline of the final research product(s). The interim report should be submitted, and the panel meeting should occur after the expenditure of 40 to 50 percent of the project budget. (3) Final deliverables should include (a) conduct of research report documenting the full scope of the research; (b) accessibility assessment framework; (c) a technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” (see IV); and (d) a presentation slide deck summarizing the research findings, recommendations, and implementation considerations for use in webinars and other technology-transfer activities. Note: Following receipt of the draft final deliverables, the remaining 3 months shall be for TCRP review and comment and for the research agency preparation of the final deliverables. IMPORTANT: (1) The brochure Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals for the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Programs includes extensive guidance on the preparation of acceptable proposals for submission to CRP. Revisions to these instructions are highlighted in yellow within that document. (2) Proposals will be rejected if any of the proposed research team members work for organizations represented on the project panel. The panel roster for this project can be found here. Proposers may not contact panel members directly; this roster is provided solely for the purpose of avoiding potential conflicts of interest. (3) The text of the final deliverable is expected to be publication ready when it is submitted. It is strongly recommended that the research team include the expertise of a technical editor as early in the project timeline as possible. See Appendix F of the Procedural Manual for Subawardees Conducting Research in the Transportation Research Board’s Cooperative Research Program for technical editing standards expected in final deliverables. (4) The required technical memorandum titled “Implementation of Research Findings and Products” should (a) provide recommendations on how to best put the research findings/products into practice; (b) identify possible institutions that might take leadership in applying the research findings/products; (c) identify issues affecting potential implementation of the findings/products and recommend possible actions to address these issues; and (d) recommend methods of identifying and measuring the impacts associated with implementation of the findings/products. Implementation of these recommendations is not part of the research project and, if warranted, details of these actions will be developed and implemented in future efforts. (5) The National Academies have an ethical and legal obligation to provide proper attribution whenever material from other sources is included in its reports, online postings, and other publications and products. TRB will review all Cooperative Research Programs draft final deliverables using the software iThenticate for potential plagiarism. If plagiarized text appears in the draft final deliverable, the research team will be required to make revisions and the opportunity to submit future proposals may be affected. Proposals must be uploaded via this link: https://www.dropbox.com/request/079mcnixn9fuv9oj431y Proposals are due not later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 8/31/2026. This is a firm deadline, and extensions are not granted. In order to be considered for award, the agency's proposal must be in our offices not later than the deadline shown, or the proposal will be rejected. General Notes: (1) Regarding non-discrimination practices and policies, proposers are required to comply with applicable federal and state laws and regulations (including without limitation, federal civil rights laws, regulations, and requirements) and follow applicable federal guidance, except as the Federal Government determines otherwise in writing. Without limitation of the foregoing, proposers agree to prohibit discrimination as prescribed by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (2) The essential features required in a proposal for research are detailed in the current brochure entitled "Information and Instructions for Preparing Proposals". Proposals must be prepared according to this document, and attention is directed specifically to Section IV for mandatory requirements. Proposals that do not conform with these requirements will be rejected. (3) The total funds available are made known in the project statement, and line items of the budget are examined to determine the reasonableness of the allocation of funds to the various tasks. If the proposed total cost exceeds the funds available, the proposal is rejected. (4) All proposals become the property of the Transportation Research Board. Final disposition will be made according to the policies thereof, including the right to reject all proposals. (5) Potential proposers should understand that follow-on activities for this project may be carried out through either a contract amendment modifying the scope of work with additional time and funds, or through a new contract (via sole source, full, or restrictive competition).

• Record URL:
  • http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=6002
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded. RFP Closing Date: 8/31/2026. Contract Time: 24 months. (includes 1 month for TCRP review and approval of the interim report and 3 months for TCRP review and for research team’s revision of the final report)

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $350,000.00
• Contract Numbers:

  Project B-58

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Transit Cooperative Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC    20001

  Federal Transit Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Schoby, Jamaal

• Start Date: 20261201
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aged; Barrier free design; Mobility; Public transit
• Subject Areas: Passenger Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01973728
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project B-58
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Dec 8 2025 7:45PM